Dartmouth Museum

Last updated

The museum entrance is at the right hand side of the picture Butterwalk hdr.jpg
The museum entrance is at the right hand side of the picture

Dartmouth Museum is a local museum in Dartmouth, Devon, which displays and chronicles the history of the port of Dartmouth. It moved to its current location in the 1950s and is housed in a merchant's house which, in 1671, entertained Charles II and where he held court during a storm which forced him to stay in the port. [1] The museum is run by the Dartmouth Museum Association, a registered charity. [2]

The museum was refurbished during the winters of 2010 and 2011 [3] and has a large collection of models of sailing ships, and of ships in bottles. [4] The latter is referred to as the Dawe Collection. The museum building itself is part of the exhibition [5] which includes local records and photographs, and a plaster ceiling believed to be unique showing the Tree of Jesse. The museum also houses the Henley Collection, a collection of artefacts and scientific material collected by William Henley (1860-1919), all of which were previously part of a separate museum on Dartmouth's Anzac Street. [6]

The entrance to the museum is in Dartmouth's Butterwalk, via a spiral staircase built counterclockwise around a ship's mast.

Related Research Articles

Dartmouth, Devon Town in Devon, England

Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and South Hams district, and had a population of 5,512 in 2001, reducing to 5,064 at the 2011 census. There are two electoral wards in the Dartmouth area. Their combined population at the above census was 6,822.

Foundling Museum Art gallery, Museum in London

The Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square, London tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for children at risk of abandonment. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Collection as well as the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, an internationally important collection of material relating to Handel and his contemporaries. After a major building refurbishment the museum opened to the public in June 2004.

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Maritime Museum in Nova Scotia, Canada

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Mykonos Island and Municipality in South Aegean, Greece

Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of 85.5 square kilometres (33.0 sq mi) and rises to an elevation of 341 metres at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to the 2011 census, most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also known as Chora.

Reading Museum Local museum in Berkshire, UK

Reading Museum is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing the history of Reading and its related industries, a gallery of artefacts discovered during the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum, a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry, finds relating to Reading Abbey and an art collection.

New Bedford Whaling Museum

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States that focuses on the history, science, art, and culture of the international whaling industry, and the "Old Dartmouth" region in the South Coast of Massachusetts. The museum is governed by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS), which was established in 1903 "to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth." Since then, the museum has expanded its scope to include programming that addresses global issues "including the consequences of natural resource exhaustion, the diversification of industry, and tolerance in a multicultural society." Its collections include over 750,000 items, including 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw and 2,500 logbooks from whaling ships, both of which are the largest collections in the world, as well as five complete whale skeletons. The museum's complex consists of several contiguous buildings housing 20 exhibit galleries and occupying an entire city block within the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, although operated independently.

River and Rowing Museum

The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international sport of rowing and the local town of Henley-on-Thames.

Port Nolloth Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Port Nolloth is a town and small domestic seaport in the Namaqualand region on the northwestern coast of South Africa, 144 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Springbok. It is the seat of the Richtersveld Local Municipality.

The Whaling Museum & Education Center

The Whaling Museum & Education Center, formerly known as The Whaling Museum, is a maritime museum located in Cold Spring Harbor, New York dedicated to exploring the local history and impact of the whaling industry, the maritime heritage of Long Island, and the relationship between people and the ocean.

Hovercraft Museum Maritime museum in Hants , England

The Hovercraft Museum, in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, England is a museum run by a registered charity dedicated to hovercraft.

Overbecks

Overbeck's Museum and Garden is an Edwardian house and 2.75 hectare garden at Sharpitor, Salcombe, Devon, England. It is named after its last private owner Otto Christop Joseph Gerhardt Ludwig Overbeck (1860–1937).

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England.

Dossin Great Lakes Museum

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is an historical maritime museum in Detroit, Michigan. Located on The Strand on Belle Isle Park along the Detroit River, this museum places special interest on Detroit's role on national and regional maritime history. The 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) museum features exhibits such as one of the largest collection of model ships in the world, and the bow anchor of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which went down in a storm in 1975.

Monmouth Museum

The Monmouth Museum, alternatively known as The Nelson Museum and Local History Centre, is a museum in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It features a collection of artifacts associated with Admiral Horatio Nelson. The museum is located in the old Market Hall in the town centre in Monmouth, a short distance from the River Monnow, Monmouth Castle and Agincourt Square.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center

The Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center is located in Johns Creek, Georgia, U.S.A.

Jacksonville Maritime Museum

The Jacksonville Maritime Museum (JMM) – which became known as the Jacksonville Maritime Heritage Center – told the maritime history of Jacksonville, Florida, United States, and the First Coast through its connection to the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. Its collection included large scale models of ships from Mayflower to present day vessels, as well as paintings, photographs and artifacts dating to 1562.

South Mill Arts

South Mill Arts is a venue for theatre, contemporary arts and culture, local history, and conferences in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. One of the buildings, today Bishop's Stortford Museum, was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes.

Totnes Museum

Totnes Museum is a local museum in the town of Totnes, south Devon, in southwest England.

Hospitalfield House

Hospitalfield House is an arts centre and historic house in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland regarded as "one of the finest country houses in Scotland". It is believed to be "Scotland's first school of fine art" and the first art college in Britain. It is a registered charity under Scottish law. A range of prominent Scottish artists have worked there, including Joan Eardley, Peter Howson, Will Maclean, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, William Gear, Alasdair Gray, Wendy McMurdo, and Callum Innes.

William Cumming Henley was a self-taught scientist, artist and collector who was born, educated and died in Dartmouth, Devon in England, and whose lifetime collection of artefacts is held in the Dartmouth Museum.

References

  1. "The Kings Room, Dartmouth Museum". Dartmouth Museum. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2011. King Charles II was entertained in July 1671, when storms forced him to seek shelter in Dartmouth.
  2. "Dartmouth Museum, registered charity no. 306635". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  3. "Dartmouth Museum Moves Forward". By The Dart. May 2011. pp. 66–67. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  4. Evans, Martin H; West, Janet (2011). "Maritime Museums: main alphabetical list" . Retrieved 5 May 2011. Large collection of ship models, incl ships in bottles, bone PoW & glass ship models. Marine & other paintings. Large archive of local photographs. ARC. Edu BA. Museum is in a 17C merchant's house & has been refurbished.
  5. "Cornucopia - Dartmouth Museum". Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011. Star objects at this location: The museum building itself; the collection of ship models; the collection of photographs.
  6. "New Display at Dartmouth Museum". Dartmouth News. 13 July 2006. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011. William Henley (1860-1919) was one of the most remarkable sons of Dartmouth. He was a local ironmonger who, in a lifetime search for knowledge, became a self taught and talented artist, naturalist and botanist, and scientific microscopist. His many water-colours form a unique record of the town at the end of the nineteenth century.

Coordinates: 50°21′07″N3°34′43″W / 50.3519°N 3.5786°W / 50.3519; -3.5786